Kingdom Hearts: Fruits Basket AU
by dippitylovelygirl
Summary: Kairi Tanaka found herself living all alone in a tent in the woods. But little did she know that those woods were the property of the renowned Shinzou family. Riku and Axel Shinzou, who lived in the house not too far from where Kairi was staying, discovered her and, feeling sorry for her, decided to let her stay with them for a while, soon discovering a secret(Sora x Riku)


A young girl with red hair was twisting and turning in a weirdly decorated tent on some sort of land, she was young, around 15. She yawned as she woke up "Oh I completely forgot I was in a tent… I better head to school."  
She brushed her messy hair out of her face, she grabbed her washcloth from the corner of the tent and walked over to the the water spring, she dipped it into the water and started scrubbing her face vigorously- she stopped and made a satisfied sigh of relief. "Refreshing~" She smiled as she let the rag dry on a rock, she grabbed hold of her school bag that was sitting in front of her tent- she peered inside "See you after school, guys." she waved goodbye to the picture of her mom and dad that was in her tent.  
She walked across a makeshift bridge which honestly should of alarmed her but she had passed it many times now and while she was straying from the path for a better look at the scenery she ended up seeing a pretty beautiful house that she had passed so many times but this time she had realized that there was a display of zodiac paperweights, more accurately, the chinese zodiac. She had learned of the old folktale when she was younger, her mom and dad told her all about it.  
She curiously walked up to it and took a closer look at the set, she was trying to find the cat but there wasn't one at all. She sighed and then she looked up to find a man with red spiky long hair and emerald green eyes, he was wearing a black and white patterned kimono that was left open to show he was wearing a normal t-shirt and jeans. "Excuse me, Ma'am- can I help you?" He asked, he seemed rather polite.  
She looked up at him "Oh I'm so sorry! I'm Kairi Tanaka! I was just heading to school and I noticed you had these zodiac paperweight collections!" she excused, she bowed apologetically, in her mind she was scared she may have offended him, and revealed her basically homeless state.  
"Oh, are you interested in them?" he asked her, a smile on his face as he sat down cross-legged next to the display, she sighed in relief as she slowly straightened her posture to look directly up at him. "Mhm! My momma told me the story when I was pretty young… she told me the story."

_A little Kairi was laying down in bed, her equally as red-headed mother, was laying down next to her, Kairi had watched in awe.  
_"_Long ago, God told all the animals he was throwing a banquet the next day and not to be late. The mischievous rat told his neighbor, the cat, that the banquet was the day after tomorrow. So, the next day, all the animals lined up for the banquet, and the rat rode there all the way on the cow's back._

_All the animals had fun, except for the cat, who was at home sleeping and dreaming of a banquet that would never come. so then the cat fought the rat every time he saw him so he would be accepted with the others."  
Little Kairi burst into tears "The poor kitty! That's it!" Kairi stood up valiantly and smiled as she made a pose that rivaled those statues of gods you see in museums. "I'll become the kitty! And I'll be the puppy no more!"  
Her mom started chuckling as Kairi did this, and Kairi turned to her "what so funny?"  
_"_Nothing." her mom reassured her with a proud smile on her face.  
_Kairi giggled "After hearing that, I vowed to become the cat instead of the dog!" she told him with a smile and a closed fist with a triumphant pose. The man nodded, a smile creeping up his face as he got a bit closer to her; "Well you can call me Axel Shinzo, you know that story really makes me feel a lot closer with you-" Kairi tilted her head "huh?"  
He gently grabbed one of her hands with both of his, and while grasping them he told her "Considering that we're both the dog I feel extremely close with you alread-"  
He was interrupted with a loud and hard hit to the head. He flinched in pain, he grabbed the back of his head in pain as tears were in the corners of his eyes, he looked up and standing over him was Riku Shinzo, this man had silver hair that reached his chin and was only a little spiky in the back, he had a beautiful face and he always had the calmest demeanor. "Control your urges for once, Lea. Teasing isn't a good look on you."  
Kairi gasped in sudden shock. 'Lea' looked at him "It's Axel! And what do you carry in your bag anyway? It's like you're toting around a dictionary!" he said, obviously peeved. "I'm carrying two, actually." he said matter-of-factly, then he turned to the young girl. "Ah, Miss Tanaka?"  
"Oh, you two know each other?" Axel said, kind of suggesting something. Kairi nodded "Well kinda! Me and Shinozo go to school together." she explained. Axel nodded "Well Riku, you better offer to-"  
Riku ignored him "Miss Tanaka, we might as well walk to school together since we're heading in the same direction." Riku told her, Axel looked offended that he was ignored, but he didn't say anything anyway.  
Kairi nodded in agreement "Sure! We should probably leave now though, I did end up spending just a little too much time here.  
"We'll Be heading out, Lea."  
"Axel."  
"Whatever."

When Kairi entered the school she was almost immediately cornered by the Riku Shinzo fan-club, she had been trying to avoid them but unfortunately she couldn't escape.  
The leader, Yuffie pointed at her. "Explain yourself, Tanaka! Why did you break the rules that the Prince Riku Shinzo Fanclub had set in place!?"  
Kairi was mega-confused, her eyes were in whites as Yuffie, Aerith, and Tidus surrounded her, the two girls and the boy we're demanding answers. Kairi raised her hand slowly "What rules are you guys talking about, exactly?" she asked, looking confused as hell. Aerith spun around "Rule 1:Do not steal the Prince's private property!"  
Tidus smiled as he spun and made a peace sign "Rule 420! Always ha-" Yuffie hit tidus in the back of the head "Tidus! If you are going to join the Prince Riku fan-club then you have to take it seriously!"  
Tidus crossed his arms and frowned,he looked almost depressed. "This is a serious club? I'm only here because I was forced to join a club…"  
Aerith sighed "Tidus! Do you want to be kicked out and forced to leave the school!?" she threatened, Tidus sighed as he turned to Kairi, and made a triumphant pose but with an annoyed, and '_given up on life' _look on his face "Rule 2:Do not enter the Prince's house…" he said in a melancholy voice.  
Yuffie posed in the middle with a huge smile "Rule 3:While talking to the Prince, you must be accompanied by at least two other members!"  
Aerith nodded "Of course there is Rule 4! Everyone must call him Prince Shinzo except third-years!"  
Tidus then sighed as the others looked at him, he posed dramatically, still with a 'please kill me' look on his face. "You, our dear Tanaka, broke rule 3, Please explain yourself."  
From behind them, your favorite blueberry waifu appeared "Hey! Why don't you three leave Kairi alone!" Aqua crossed her arms as Selphie appeared behind her and crossed her arms. "Or do you want me to cast a curse on you?" she said, they both glared at the group of Riku Fan-clubbers.  
They all ran away, the exception of Tidus who lagged behind "Sorry about that, guys." The other two yelled at him and he ran after them. Selphie continued glaring, as if she could actually cast a curse on them. Aqua sighed "Selph, knock it off." she lightly hit Selphies head, and Selphie frowned "Aww fine…"  
Kairi sighed in heavy relief "Thank you guys, who knew walking with Shinzo, er- Prince Shinzo, would get me in a mess like this."she let out a dry, nervous, chuckle.  
Aqua sighed "Nevermind them, it wasn't fair for them to corner you like that!" Aqua paused for a moment then decided to cautiously ask "What were you walking with the prince for, anyway?"  
Kairi blushed at the accusation "W-what? O-oh! We ran into each other on the way to school! So we decided that we might as well walk with each other!"  
Aqua then wrapped her arms around Kairi into a hug and Selphie joined in on the hug "As long as he doesn't hurt you, I don't mind~" Aqua told her as selphie nodded in agreement.

Later, they had made it to home economics class, they were currently cooking, Aqua was burning the noodles somehow, Selphie wasn't doing too well, and Kairi was absolutely acing it. "You know, I heard some interesting things about the prince." Aqua brought up, Selphie nodded "I heard some...off things as well." she added. Kairi looked between the two of them "Really? What is it?"  
Selphie hummed "Well… he has a weird… aura. I don't like it." Selphie whispered as she brought out a knife. Aqua mumbled "neat.." then continued "Well, I heard that a girl confessed her love to him and she leaped to try and hug him after he said no, and he pushed her away and apparently walked away in a panic." Kairi looked at her hand as she put the plate of the finished product on the table "...curiouser and curiouser…"

Later… she bumped into Riku Shinzou again, on her way to her 'home' "Hey, Shinozu."  
Riku turned to her "Oh- Uh, Good afternoon Miss Tanaka, would you like to walk with me?" He offered a smile on his face. Kairi nodded "yeah! I'll walk with you." she sped up a little to catch up with, after a little bit of walking Kairi speaks up. "Sorry about this morning Shinozu, I did intrude a little."  
Riku shook his head no "No it's alright, I should be apologizing for my idiotic cousin. Though your conversation was interesting… something about wanting to be the zodiac cat."  
Kairi nodded "Yep! I was kind of a weird kid but, I don't think my opinion has changed… the poor cat…"  
Riku let out a short and humorless laugh "The cat is stubborn." he smirked "Idiotic too."  
Kairi was confused a burst of wind suddenly came and blew a leaf into her hair. Riku walked up to her as she said "Are...you saying you hate cats?"

Riku took the leaf from her head and held it up between them "Your pale, and haven't done much today, so don't push yourself too hard."  
She watched as he started walking away, she was breathless for a moment "Wait- AH! I need to get to work!" She ran as fast as she could towards her workplace.  
She worked as an office janitor, it was probably one of the best jobs to have if you wanted to have a good balance of work and school, as well as free time.  
Kairi sighed '_I'm going to be working for a little while, aren't I? But… I have too!'_ she said, trying to fill herself up with context. '_Things may not be looking up right now, but I just know that I can do it! Who cares if I live in a tent? Any place can be a home if you make it one!' _Kairi said in her mind as she continued scrubbing, her boss smiled at her "Such a hard worker…"  
Kairi worked even harder the rest of the day.

Riku rubbed his face in frustration as he walked alongside Axel "Lea, did you really have to put pickled plums in the rice?" Riku said as he carried the takeout, they had to get because Axel just HAD to ruin dinner. Axel sighed "First, I told you to call me Axel. I can't help that both of us are terrible cooks!" Axel said as he said as he pointed to his head "If you think we're so bad then we need to have a woman or someone in the house, someone who can actually COOK, you know?"  
Riku nodded "Yep, I got it locked into my memory at this point." he said making an open hand and putting it into a fist to make a point, despite not actually caring. Axel stopped and Riku nearly bumped into it "What's wrong, Axel?" Riku asked. Axel pointed down the mountain path where a very tired Kairi was practically stumbling down the path. "Speaking of women, isn't that Kairi? wonder what she's doing out here."  
Riku nodded "Well, her mom did die a little bit ago… maybe she did move out here." he suggested. Axel's eyes narrowed but only for a moment "We never rented any of the land out here to anyone, outside of us, of course."  
Riku looked at him "maybe we should go investigate.." and Axel nodded in agreement.

Kairi tried not to pass out as soon as she got to her pseudo home, or as others call it. A tent. She yawned as she entered the tent, she turned on the flashlight. "As much as I'd like to sleep, I still have homework to do.. Though I guess I should splash some water on my fa-" she didn't finish, because when she started crawling her way out of the tent she was met face-to-face with both Riku and Axel. They made eye contact for a moment until Axel started snickering and laughing "This- This is rich! BWHAHAHA!" he started laughing even harder "she- she's living in a tent!" he practically fell over laughing, Axel seemed like the type that liked to be 'cool' so for Kairi it was more surprising to see him laughing so audibly then to see them in front of her, it was only a matter of time. Riku was getting irritated "It's not even that funny." he threatened Axel. Riku sighed as he noticed Kairi had a bit of a redder face then usual "Come with us, please, Miss Tanaka." Kairi looked back into the tent and nodded as they escorted her towards their home, all Kairi was thinking was '_oh no, oh my god, what am I going to do? They're gonna kick me out! Oh no, oh no oh no oh no, oh crap.'_

Kairi bit her lip as they sat her down at a table, Axel was still trying to hide his snickering by turning away. Kairi gulped "Look, if it's bothering you that I'm on your land then I can try paying you rent! I don't have much but I can!"  
Riku shook his head from side-to-side, his bangs moving with it. "Miss Shinzou, we simply want to know why you're out there, and we want to help if we can." Riku suggested. Axel smiled "Yep, we just can't let a girl or anyone for that matter live their lives like that- we want to be able to help ya'."  
Kairi sighed "Well um, -" Axel put his hand up "Call me Axel." he interrupted. Kairi nodded "Shinzou, Axel, after my mother died, everyone argued who should take me in… My grandmother ended up taking me in and during that time, he told me that he needed to get renovations done… I was supposed to go with a friend but Aqua lives in a very small apartment that she and her father share… Selphie may have more room but she has a huge family, and I wouldn't have any room, so I decided to get a tent and live off the land for now.. Until the renovations are done."  
Axel shrugged "Well, you can stay here but I don't know how that would work out with Vani-"  
Riku interrupted him "Axel, aren't you wondering if she can cook?" He smirked, knowing what Axel really wanted. "Kairi! Can you cook? Do you like housework!?" Axel asked, excitement on his face. Kairi nodded slowly with a gulp "Um y-yeah, I love cooking and housework comes naturally and is actually kind of calming in a way." she laughed.  
Axel looked at Riku "She can stay! Please Kairi, stay with us until your grandmother's renovations are done." Axel smiled with a slight twinkle in his eye. "Anyways, that spot you chose is dangerous anyway! With all of the mountain collapses~"  
Kairi gasped "Collapses!? I could have died! oh no, I better go get my stuff!" she stood up and started running towards the tent, Riku and Axel ran after her.  
When Kairi saw the pile of dirt that knocked over her tent she shrieked "Oh no! My mom and dad are in there!" she ran to the dirt and got on her knees and she desperately clawed at the, her already red face getting redder. Riku ran up to her and grabbed her shoulder "Tanaka, stop it! You're going to get yourself sick, come on… your mom wouldn't want you to get yourself sick and hurt because you're doing this… we'll come back for it in the morning, okay?" Riku reassured her. Kairi slowly nodded "Yeah… okay…" she got up, as she, Riku, and Axel wandered back to the house. Riku told Kairi to stay put while he got some extra clothes of his- a black t-shirt and grey sweatpants. He handed it to her and she sighed as she headed into the spare room and got dressed into the clothes and folded her uniform up in the corner. She felt horrible that they were doing this all for her but their constant reassurance was, well, reassuring.  
She exited the room "Thank you guys so much, I can't believe you allowed me to stay here…" Kairi had a fist clutched to her chest. Riku sighed "It's not a problem, but Miss Tanaka, you look like you have a fever or something." he told her, looking genuinely concerned.  
Kairi frowned "I-... I know, sorry… I'll l-lay down." she walked to the bed laid out on the floor for her and she put the blanket over herself. Riku smiled as she went to sleep "She really is amazing, going through all that."  
Axel yawned "It's kinda rude to call her suffering amazing, you know." he told Riku, only one eye open as Riku nodded "True…"  
Riku walked over to Axel "Don't we have a special pillow for this in the kitchen?" Riku asked. Axel nodded "Yeah i'm sur-'' he froze, when he looked into the kitchen he was brought with piles of junk and stink. "I think the regular pillow will be fine. Riku, why don't we go dig up her stuff." Riku shook his head no "I got this, I can get her stuff myself."  
Axel smiled, already knowing the answer "All by yourself though? Who'll help ya?" Riku turned to him "You really think I can't do it? Do you even know who I have with me?" the door in front of Riku opened and he walked out as a mountain of rats appeared, he turned halfway just enough for Axel to see his smile and walked back towards the tent.

Kairi woke up, she was rubbing her tired eyes and she looked around "Oh right…" she went to lay back down but as soon as she did she sat up with a burst of energy and threw off the blankets "I can't go back to sleep! I have to find all of my stuff with Shinzou and Axel."  
She started marching out the door and towards her tent, she was still barefooted. Riku saw this and walked out in front of her, all the while holding two bags worth of her stuff. "I already went and got everything out, now come on we'll put this in your room upstairs." Riku gestured to the stairs that lead to the second floor that were right at the entrance. Kairi sighed "I really don't want to be a burden… is there at least any house rules that I should follow?" Kairi asked, guiltiness in her voice. Riku stopped in his tracks and turned towards her "Kairi, you should just be yourself, at most I'd say don't tell the fanclub because they'd go berserk on you." he dryly chuckled. "But please, while you're here, make yourself at home." he gave her a very sweet look before turning back around and heading up the stairs of the house.  
"It's not in the best of shape since no one has used it before, but we did manage to clean it out." Riku explained, as Kairi followed him up the stairs. "We hope that it's roomy enough for you." Kairi nodded "Well, anything is fine! I'm just relieved I don't have to stand outside my tent and pick off slugs one by one." she made a little shiver of disgust "it was so gross to find them all over my tent in the mornings."  
They entered the room and Riku entered the room and set the bags at the other end of the room under the window, Kairi gazed at the room from the entrance "What were you talking about earlier? This room is really nice!" she complimented. "And no slugs either."  
She was about to enter but suddenly there was a loud yell and a huge crash as a boy with brown spiky hair and blue eyes crashed through the ceiling, he was wearing a red t-shirt and black jeans. He looked like the mix of an athlete and an emo? It was weird, he wore slim-fitting clothes yet he resembled more of an athlete… and he also looked somewhat of a thug? It was a very weird combination but he was also very handsome like Riku but in a completely different kind of way.  
The boy started cranking his arm in a winding motion as he cracked his neck and knuckles "How's it going Ratku?" He smiled as he pounded one fist into his palm with a 'your in for a pounding' look in his eyes. Kairi was in absolute shock "My new room… but more importantly…"  
Riku glared at him "It's the little kitty, tell me, have you found a good litter box yet?" his eyes squinted with a smile, it was a look on his face Kairi had never seen on him and she was honestly very shocked to see him so annoyed at someone or something. The boy growled "Get ready for a beating rat-boy!" he jumped towards Riku and went to throw a fist and Riku posted up and got prepared to block or dodge. Kairi gasped and moved before thinking "Please don't figh-" she tripped and shrieked, the boy turned his head when he heard her and outta instinct he went to catch her and for a brief moment she had her arms around him and he was blushing "AGHH-" he shouted, both out of embarrassment and shock. He had a huge blush on his face that wouldn't be noticeable to most because in two seconds he poofed away into red smoke.  
Riku had a horrified look on his face.  
"This is all that stupid cats fault." he rubbed his face in annoyance as Axel walked in. "Yo, was that Sora I heard?" he then saw the predicament "Oh no…"  
Kairi gasped "I am so sorry, Sora they said I didn't mean t-" she was utterly silent as what she lifted up was a cat, a brown cat with blue eyes like sora. "I- what- cat- kitty- I- Did I turn him into a cat!? Oh my god- We need to get him to a hospital! Or maybe a vet? A witchdoctor!" she got up and went to run to the door.  
Riku and Axel stepped in front of her "Tanaka please wait!" he told her and then, a stray piece of rubble hit her shoulder, she lost her footing as she fell directly into Axel and Riku who looked so done with everything as they both transformed into a dog and a rat respectively.

Kairi's jaw was hung wide open "Their… all animals!?"


End file.
